The present invention relates to an odometer unit having an electronic integrated distance indicator that indicates distance traveled by a vehicle.
Vehicles such as automobiles are equipped with a so-called combination meter in which various types of meters such as a speedometer indicating travel speed of the vehicle and a tachometer indicating the number of revolutions of an engine mounted in the vehicle. FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a combination meter. A meter case 1 is designed to have a speedometer unit 3 and a tachometer unit 5 attached thereto. The speedometer unit 3 has an electronic integrated distance indicator 9 constructed of an LCD (liquid crystal display) for indicating distance traveled by the vehicle, in addition to a speedometer 7. These are mounted on a wiring board 11. The tachometer unit 5 has a tachometer 13 mounted on a wiring board 15.
The speedometer 7 and the tachometer 13 are analog meters having cross-coiled movements 17, 19, and pointers 21, 23 rotating so as to be interlocked with the magnet rotors of the movements 17, 19. In the cross-coiled movements 17, 19, the magnet rotors together with the pointers 21, 23 are rotated by magnetic field that is generated at two coils by a drive current corresponding to the speed of the vehicle or the number of revolutions and supplied to the two coils that are wound around bobbins so as to cross each other.
Electronic parts constructed of CPUs or the like for incorporating drive circuits for supplying predetermined drive current to the coils of the movements of the speedometer 7 and the tachometer 13 are mounted on the wiring boards 11, 15, respectively. Further, an electronic part for incorporating a drive circuit for the electronic integrated distance indicator 9 is also mounted on the wiring board 11 of the speedometer unit 3.
However, in such a conventional combination meter, each of the speedometer, the tachometer, and the electronic integrated distance indicator has a separate electronic part with the drive circuit, so that this design is disadvantageous not only in having to involve a large number of electronic parts but also in implementing a space-saving design.